The Labour Party has promised to provide a year of free pre-school education for all children if it gets into government after the next general election.
In the first of five "commitments for change" to be rolled out in the next five weeks, the party said the proposal would cost €180 million annually and is aimed at easing the burden on families who are faced with prohibitive childcare costs.
Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said the election would be about the quality of life of hard-working families in communities in Ireland.
"I am determined that any programme for government involving the Labour Party will include this commitment, and I am further determined that this commitment will be delivered on within five years in government," he said.
Mr Rabbitte said he would make it a "personal priority" to ensure that this, and the other four commitments, would happen. "I am giving my personal guarantee to voters that they will happen."
He said the party had not run the plan by Fine Gael, but said the pledge, and the other four commitments to be unveiled in the next month, would be in a programme for government that Labour was part of.
Under the pre-school plan Labour in government promises to:
• Provide a year of free pre-school education amounting to five half days per week per child;
• Build new facilities and convert existing ones to accommodate the plan;
• Train and deploy a "significant number" of staff to roll out the plan.
The party says the return on investment in pre-school education, socially and economically, is enormous and there is evidence to show that pre-school education is the key to tackling the high rate of school drop-out.
Other benefits include reductions in juvenile crime, higher attendance at college and higher earnings in life.
Labour spokeswoman on children, Senator Kathleen O' Meara, said the commitment demonstrated the party's absolute determination to ensure that the problem of inadequate childcare facilities would be tackled by Labour in government.
"We now have the opportunity to put in place something that is currently missing in Ireland - a comprehensive system of early childhood care and education that puts the needs of children first," she said.
Senator O' Meara said the State could now afford a major programme of investment in early childhood care and education. "Making that investment now will deliver great benefits in the medium and long term."
She said the party had not calculated how many teachers it would take to fulfil the commitment but said the party would ensure that the highest standards of training and qualification were adhered to.
The party said it would be a major project involving building new facilities, converting existing ones and training.
Senator Joanna Tuffy, a candidate in Dublin Mid-West, said the lack of affordable childcare was placing a major burden on families in the expanding Dublin commuter belt.
"Many young parents are forced to care for their children at home because of the absence of affordable childcare. They find themselves caught in an unfortunate Catch 22. They want to return to the workforce and their careers as soon as possible, but are unable to pay the high costs of available childcare services."
Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan last night dismissed the plan saying it was an "ill-conceived use of taxpayers' money". He said that offering free pre-school education for a couple of hours a day for a year would have a minimal impact on the childcare needs of parents.